Mailbox signal



1 1948. H. M. WEAVER 4 MAILBOX s IGNAL Filed July 2 5, 1945 I live/liar Patented Jan. 6, i948 MAILBOX SIGNAL Harley M. Weaver, McClure, Ohio, assignor of thirty-three per cent to Carrol H. Weaver, Toledo, Ohio, and thirty-three per cent to Maynard A. Weaver, Cleveland, Ohio Application July 25, 1945, Serial No. 607,021

2 Claims. (01. 232-35) This invention relates to a mail box signal and it is one object of the invention to provide a signal which is mounted upon a box and adapted to be swung downwardly and secured in a lowered position by the owner of the box, the signal when lowered being engaged by the door so that when the letter carrier opens the door to place mail in the box the signal will be released and allowed to move to a normally upright position and thus indicate to the owner of the box that the'letter carrier has placed mail inthebox. It will thus be seen that a person'whose house is at some distance from a road may determine whether mail has been placed in the box by merely looking toward the box and observing whether the signal is in a lowered position or an upright position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a signal which may be readily applied to a rural free delivery mail box of conventional construction, the signal consisting of a rod carrying a plate in order that it may be easily seen and the rod being engaged with a helical spring which normally holds the rod upright but permits it to be swung downwardly into position to be engaged by the door of the box and held lowered.

Another object of the invention is to provide a signal which is extremely simple in construction, efiicient in operation and not liable to becomebroken. The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side view of a mail box equipped with the improved signal,

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the signal swung downwardly to a lowered position and so held by the closed door of the mail box, and

Figure 3 is an enlarged view showing the signal partially in elevation and partially in section.

This improved signal is intended for use in connection with a mail box of the type commonly used along rural free delivery routes. The box which is indicated in general by the numeral I may be mounted upon a post or other support and at one end has a door 2 which is hinged or pivotally mounted at its lower end, as shown at 3, in order that the door may be swung vertically into and out of closing relation to the open end of the mail box. At the present time mail boxes of this type are in general use and when the letter carrier reaches the box, he opens the door and after placing mail within the box, closes the door. Unless the owner of the box sees the letter carrier stop and place mail in the box, it is necessary for him to go to the road where the box is located and open it in order to see whether mail 2 V has been placed in the box. This causes loss of time and in addition it is often necessary to walk quite a distance in order to reach the box.

The improved signal constituting the sub ect matter of this invention consistsof a metal rod i which is'preferably tapered toward its upper free end and has its lower end portion engaged in the upper end portion of a'helical spring 5. The lower end of the spring rests upona bracket 6 which is secured to the box I' by a suitable number of screws or other suitable fasteners l, and while the bracket has been shown secured against a side wall of the box, it will be understood that it may be secured at any convenient point. A screw 8 is threaded upwardly through the bracket 6 and into the lower end portion of the spring 5 and from an inspection of Figure 3, it will be seen that by turning the screw it may be caused to extend upwardly into the spring various distances. The distance must be sufficient to cause the spring to be firmly anchored to the bracket, but by adjusting the screw so that it extends into the spring varying distances, the point at which the spring may be flexed transversely will be controlled and consequently resiliency of the spring controlled.

A disk 9 which may be formed of metal or other suitable material is disposed intermediate the height of the rod 4 where it is secured by a fastener I0 and when the signal is applied to the box, this disk will be so disposed that it will face the house. Therefore, the, owner of the box may clearly see the disk which may be referred to as a flag and easily determine whether the signal is in an upright position or in a lowered position.

When this signal is in use, it is secured against the mail box by a suitable number of screws 1 and the signal will normally be in the upright position shown in Figure 1. The signal may be set each time mail is removed from the box or if mail is only delivered once a day or on certain days of the week, the signal will be set before the mail man is expected. In order to set the signal, the rod is grasped and swung downwardly from the upright position of Figure l to the lowered position of Figure 2. In order to do so, the door is opened and the signal then swung downwardly so that it extends longitudinally of the box and its free end terminates close to the open end of the box. The door 2 is then closed and since this door has a marginal flange for overlapping the forward end portion of the box, the free end of the rod will engage under the flange of the door and the signal will be securely held in the lowered position. When the letter carrier reaches the box and opens the door in order to place mail within the box, the signal will be released and resiliency of the spring 5 will cause the rod to return to the upright position, the door being then closed by the letter carrier. When the owner of the mail box looks toward .the box, he can clearly .see the signal and if the signal is in the upright position, he will know that the door has been opened in order to place mail in the box. He will then go down to the road and remove mail from the box and immediately re-set the signal or allow it to remain in the upright position if he wishes to prevent the spring from being weakened by being bent downwardly for too long a length of time.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it is believed that a clear understanding of the construction, operation and advantages of the device will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A more detailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It -is to be understood, however, that even though I have herein shown and described apreferred embodiment of my invention that the same is susceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of the. invention as herein described and the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A mail box signal ecmprising a bracket adapted to be secured against a rnail box, a rod,

an indicator carried by said rod, a helical spring having upper convolutions engaged about the lower end portion of said rod, and a screw threaded upwardly through said bracket and into the lower end portion of said spring.

2 In combination with a mail box having a pivoted closure, a bracket secured to said mail box, a coil spring supported on said bracket, a signal rod mounted in the outer end of said spring,

an indicator on said rod, means comprising a,

screw threaded upwardly through said bracket varying distances into the lower portion of said spring for varying the efiective flexibility of said spring, and said rod being adapted to be moved laterally by flexing said spring to have its outer end locked by said pivoted closure.

HARLEY M. WEAVER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

